October 7, 2025 • 10 mins
ABC News Correspondent Jordana Miller joins us live from Israel to share her firsthand experience from October 7, 2023, and reflect on the lasting impact two years after the devastating Hamas attack that changed the region and the world.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let's go back to the hotline and bring in ABC
News correspondent Jordana Miller come into us live from Israel
this morning on the two year anniversary of the October
seventh attacks. And Jordana, you know, we've talked to you
a lot since that infamous day, and I wanted to
get your experience on October seventh. How did the day
unfold for you?
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Well, you know, I.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Was thinking about that a lot last night because I
actually couldn't sleep much. But essentially, the sirens went off
here in Jerusalem probably a little more than an hour
after the actual incursion of southern Israel started, with you know,
by Hamas, the actual the actual you know, breaking through
(00:44):
the border and carrying out all the the death and
the rape and the pillage, all of that started about.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Six thirty nine am.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
The first rockets and then they came through, broke through
the border. But here in Jerusalem, the first siren only
went off a little after eight am. And you know,
I initially or immediately thought something very wrong is happening,
because usually the sirens go off and maybe there's some
(01:17):
rock and fire from Gaza when we're in the middle
of some kind of back and forth with militants in
the strip. But that was not the case at all.
On October seventh, there was nothing happening. So my first
thought was, Wow, this is going to be This is bad.
Whatever's happening is very bad, right, that was my first thought.
(01:37):
I jumped out of bed. Now I keep the Sabbath, right,
the Saturday is a holy day for me for many,
many many years already, So it's a day that I
go offline. Right, My TV's off, my phone is off.
You know, I'm in a little kind of spiritual and
family bubble, if you will. And knowing that it was
(02:00):
so strange that a siren had gone off, I immediately turned
on my television, got on my phone and quickly realized
that there had been an invasion of southern Israel. And
you know, I have to tell you it was a
sense of you know, anxiety and fear that went through
(02:25):
you know, I went through my body. And I have
to say, you know, in short fashion, I went to
my neighbors, who also keep the Sabbath, to alert them
what was happening.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
In case, in case they didn't know how.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Bad it was, right, Because at that point, I think
a lot of us were thinking well, if they made
it through southern Israel and looks like hundreds of Hamas fighters.
But actually we didn't know that it was close to
six thousand, right, We had no idea the number was
so high. But I thought, surely some could reach through, right,
(03:01):
there could be people.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Who come in with just guns and start firing.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
So, you know, immediately the safety of my family and
my neighbors came to mind. And then, of course, you know,
quickly I started to do live reporting for GMA and
for the radio for ABC affiliates, you know, all through
the day as we started to see the horror of
(03:27):
it all unfold, and these were such early hours of
the attack, we didn't understand the scale of it, and
we didn't understand you know, the threat of it all right,
and we didn't understand, by the way, how slow the
Israeli army was to respond and the air force. You know,
(03:48):
this went on for hours and hours, right, And I
think one of the one of the terrifying points in
the day was when the footage started to leak of
what was happening a Nova Film festival that is with
you know, dozens and dozens and dozens of Israeli's panicked,
(04:09):
you know, running through these fields and hearing the gunfire, right,
because you know, very soon after we realized that Hamas
they were actually uploading, you know, pictures of their massacre
on on Facebook and on telegram, right, and so we
were suddenly seeing it in real time. And I'll tell
(04:32):
you another terrifying part of the day to watch the
Israeli anchors take their positions, some of them who live
in the south, right, and to hear them tell us
about the text messages they were getting saying, there are
terrorists outside my window. I'm in I'm in my I'm
(04:54):
in my safe room, and there I see armed men
at my window, like where is the army where? You know,
desperate calls for help.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
You know.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
It was just.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
You know, it was a terrifying day, you know it was,
and it was and again we did not even understand
the scale of it for many, many, many hours. You
know that really Israel had lost control of some of
it's uh, you know, it's at all. You know, those
(05:28):
communities were fighting back and forth trying to repel the
attack for many many hours, and some of them alone,
some of them, you know, some of them just guys
who were part of the local uh local force of
their towns, you know, like local security guys, but they
(05:48):
weren't necessarily in the army, right. And the pictures of
Hamas paragliding in, right, attacking you know, some of the
races there at Na Halos.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
I mean, it was a day of you know, shock
and fear.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
And uh you know again in a way, I think
modern day Israel witnessed what probably uh you know, not
probably what Jews of medieval times often witnessed, and that
was kind of pogrims, you know, pograms in their communities,
masses just coming in and lighting fires and you know,
(06:29):
killing people. So it was it was pretty terrifying. And
I have to say, I I had I have two
little small children, and my my youngest had you know,
he was he was just six months old, right, so
you know, I was taking a you know, the carriage
and putting it in you know, the one corner of
(06:52):
my house where there's you know, it's not even a
back then on the first day, it wasn't even really
a technical safe room yet, right. I just was taking
cover and there, putting him to sleep and actually keeping him.
You can hear him in the background napping. I would
just have him nap that in that room.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
I know. I love you. Yeah, everyone's obviously home today.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Yeah yeah, I mean, it's just incredible to hear your account.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
It was a terrifying It was really a terrifying day.
I have to say, And I'll.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Tell you something.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
I spent the whole day in my pajamas. It was
a Holidays suecoat. The very last day. Right, we're now
in Succote. Today's the first day of Zuccota. But this
happened on the Hebrew calendar. The very last day of
Succote was October seventh. I was outside in my pajamas
in this soukka, reporting.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Live all day. I have to tell you that.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
A year later, when it came to putting up my socca,
I realized I was very traumatized by my soka, Like
it was triggering for me that I had to throw
the whole thing out and buy an new one because
I'd spent so many days in there.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
In the following.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Days putting the pieces together, you know, and you know,
and obviously ABC News and our whole team showed up,
you know, within hours, you know, and and and I
have to say, because Israel is such a small country. Uh,
everyone is very connected. I mean it wasn't you know,
(08:24):
It was only a day or two before I realized
that Rachel Goldberg, you know, Paulin Goldberg and John lived,
they lived just a few blocks from me, right, So
the whole story of hersh you know, unfolded, h you
know in my neighborhood, as did you know, a lot
of the a lot of the stories of the hostages
(08:48):
and some of the soldiers who were killed, you know,
or we're also from this neighborhood. So it's it's been,
I would say, you know, a trauma I think for
all of us who've been covering it, you know, every
twist in turn.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
It's been, it's had its own price.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
And you know, even there's even a part of me
that feels guilty for my own like trauma of it
because I haven't been, you know, in Gaza, and I'm
you know, fighting this war and I'm not one of
the families who's been displaced ten times or twenty times.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
But but there.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Is something to being part of the Israeli collective here
which you just can you're not spared of this war
and what it's done to the country, even tearing parts
of this country apart right for those who've wanted the
war to end now for a long long time, and
you know, God willing, we're on the verge of the
(09:51):
end of it now.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
But I don't think on that day on.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
October seven, anyone imagined the war would go on for
two years.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
There was certainly a day that not only changed Israel,
but changed the whole region and the world's ABC News
correspondent Jordana Miller comes to us live from Israel on
the second anniversary of the October seventh attacks. Jordana, thank
you so much for sharing that experience, and I'm sure
it's hard to relive it, but we do appreciate getting
a sense of what it was like on that fateful day.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Thanks so much.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Chuck Soon The Ryan Gorman Show five to nine, every
weekday morning on news Radio two UFLA
Let's go back to the hotline and bring in ABC
News correspondent Jordana Miller come into us live from Israel
this morning on the two year anniversary of the October
seventh attacks. And Jordana, you know, we've talked to you
a lot since that infamous day, and I wanted to
get your experience on October seventh. How did the day
unfold for you?
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Well, you know, I.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Was thinking about that a lot last night because I
actually couldn't sleep much. But essentially, the sirens went off
here in Jerusalem probably a little more than an hour
after the actual incursion of southern Israel started, with you know,
by Hamas, the actual the actual you know, breaking through
(00:44):
the border and carrying out all the the death and
the rape and the pillage, all of that started about.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Six thirty nine am.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
The first rockets and then they came through, broke through
the border. But here in Jerusalem, the first siren only
went off a little after eight am. And you know,
I initially or immediately thought something very wrong is happening,
because usually the sirens go off and maybe there's some
(01:17):
rock and fire from Gaza when we're in the middle
of some kind of back and forth with militants in
the strip. But that was not the case at all.
On October seventh, there was nothing happening. So my first
thought was, Wow, this is going to be This is bad.
Whatever's happening is very bad, right, that was my first thought.
(01:37):
I jumped out of bed. Now I keep the Sabbath, right,
the Saturday is a holy day for me for many,
many many years already, So it's a day that I
go offline. Right, My TV's off, my phone is off.
You know, I'm in a little kind of spiritual and
family bubble, if you will. And knowing that it was
(02:00):
so strange that a siren had gone off, I immediately turned
on my television, got on my phone and quickly realized
that there had been an invasion of southern Israel. And
you know, I have to tell you it was a
sense of you know, anxiety and fear that went through
(02:25):
you know, I went through my body. And I have
to say, you know, in short fashion, I went to
my neighbors, who also keep the Sabbath, to alert them
what was happening.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
In case, in case they didn't know how.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Bad it was, right, Because at that point, I think
a lot of us were thinking well, if they made
it through southern Israel and looks like hundreds of Hamas fighters.
But actually we didn't know that it was close to
six thousand, right, We had no idea the number was
so high. But I thought, surely some could reach through, right,
(03:01):
there could be people.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Who come in with just guns and start firing.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
So, you know, immediately the safety of my family and
my neighbors came to mind. And then, of course, you know,
quickly I started to do live reporting for GMA and
for the radio for ABC affiliates, you know, all through
the day as we started to see the horror of
(03:27):
it all unfold, and these were such early hours of
the attack, we didn't understand the scale of it, and
we didn't understand you know, the threat of it all right,
and we didn't understand, by the way, how slow the
Israeli army was to respond and the air force. You know,
(03:48):
this went on for hours and hours, right, And I
think one of the one of the terrifying points in
the day was when the footage started to leak of
what was happening a Nova Film festival that is with
you know, dozens and dozens and dozens of Israeli's panicked,
(04:09):
you know, running through these fields and hearing the gunfire, right,
because you know, very soon after we realized that Hamas
they were actually uploading, you know, pictures of their massacre
on on Facebook and on telegram, right, and so we
were suddenly seeing it in real time. And I'll tell
(04:32):
you another terrifying part of the day to watch the
Israeli anchors take their positions, some of them who live
in the south, right, and to hear them tell us
about the text messages they were getting saying, there are
terrorists outside my window. I'm in I'm in my I'm
(04:54):
in my safe room, and there I see armed men
at my window, like where is the army where? You know,
desperate calls for help.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
You know.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
It was just.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
You know, it was a terrifying day, you know it was,
and it was and again we did not even understand
the scale of it for many, many, many hours. You
know that really Israel had lost control of some of
it's uh, you know, it's at all. You know, those
(05:28):
communities were fighting back and forth trying to repel the
attack for many many hours, and some of them alone,
some of them, you know, some of them just guys
who were part of the local uh local force of
their towns, you know, like local security guys, but they
(05:48):
weren't necessarily in the army, right. And the pictures of
Hamas paragliding in, right, attacking you know, some of the
races there at Na Halos.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
I mean, it was a day of you know, shock
and fear.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
And uh you know again in a way, I think
modern day Israel witnessed what probably uh you know, not
probably what Jews of medieval times often witnessed, and that
was kind of pogrims, you know, pograms in their communities,
masses just coming in and lighting fires and you know,
(06:29):
killing people. So it was it was pretty terrifying. And
I have to say, I I had I have two
little small children, and my my youngest had you know,
he was he was just six months old, right, so
you know, I was taking a you know, the carriage
and putting it in you know, the one corner of
(06:52):
my house where there's you know, it's not even a
back then on the first day, it wasn't even really
a technical safe room yet, right. I just was taking
cover and there, putting him to sleep and actually keeping him.
You can hear him in the background napping. I would
just have him nap that in that room.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
I know. I love you. Yeah, everyone's obviously home today.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Yeah yeah, I mean, it's just incredible to hear your account.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
It was a terrifying It was really a terrifying day.
I have to say, And I'll.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Tell you something.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
I spent the whole day in my pajamas. It was
a Holidays suecoat. The very last day. Right, we're now
in Succote. Today's the first day of Zuccota. But this
happened on the Hebrew calendar. The very last day of
Succote was October seventh. I was outside in my pajamas
in this soukka, reporting.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Live all day. I have to tell you that.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
A year later, when it came to putting up my socca,
I realized I was very traumatized by my soka, Like
it was triggering for me that I had to throw
the whole thing out and buy an new one because
I'd spent so many days in there.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
In the following.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Days putting the pieces together, you know, and you know,
and obviously ABC News and our whole team showed up,
you know, within hours, you know, and and and I
have to say, because Israel is such a small country. Uh,
everyone is very connected. I mean it wasn't you know,
(08:24):
It was only a day or two before I realized
that Rachel Goldberg, you know, Paulin Goldberg and John lived,
they lived just a few blocks from me, right, So
the whole story of hersh you know, unfolded, h you
know in my neighborhood, as did you know, a lot
of the a lot of the stories of the hostages
(08:48):
and some of the soldiers who were killed, you know,
or we're also from this neighborhood. So it's it's been,
I would say, you know, a trauma I think for
all of us who've been covering it, you know, every
twist in turn.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
It's been, it's had its own price.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
And you know, even there's even a part of me
that feels guilty for my own like trauma of it
because I haven't been, you know, in Gaza, and I'm
you know, fighting this war and I'm not one of
the families who's been displaced ten times or twenty times.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
But but there.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Is something to being part of the Israeli collective here
which you just can you're not spared of this war
and what it's done to the country, even tearing parts
of this country apart right for those who've wanted the
war to end now for a long long time, and
you know, God willing, we're on the verge of the
(09:51):
end of it now.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
But I don't think on that day on.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
October seven, anyone imagined the war would go on for
two years.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
There was certainly a day that not only changed Israel,
but changed the whole region and the world's ABC News
correspondent Jordana Miller comes to us live from Israel on
the second anniversary of the October seventh attacks. Jordana, thank
you so much for sharing that experience, and I'm sure
it's hard to relive it, but we do appreciate getting
a sense of what it was like on that fateful day.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Thanks so much.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Chuck Soon The Ryan Gorman Show five to nine, every
weekday morning on news Radio two UFLA
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